The present invention relates to supervisory control systems and to methods and systems for processing and displaying graphics therein.
Supervisory control systems are used in the operation of plants, networks, hospitals, traffic regions as well as a large number of other facilities. By way of example only, these facilities include chemical plants and reactors. Among other functions, the supervisory control systems are used to monitor the operation and status of these facilities. In particular, the supervisory control systems generate a graphical display representative of the operational status of the facility being monitored and operators observe and control the equipment they are responsible for via operator stations using the supervisory control systems. Since the equipment units and the interrelations between them are shown in pictures, the operators are able to determine the status of the facilities by examining the graphical display.
The pictures used in the domain of supervisory control systems are characterized by the display of a large number of equipment symbols and there are typically a few types of the symbols. The straightforward application of standard graphic formats in this domain leads to inefficient solutions. This is due, in part, to the large quantity of data that must be transferred to generate the graphical display. Thus, present supervisory control systems are slow and do not allow a sufficient footprint to be generated.
These issues can lead to very serious problems. For example, supervisory control systems are generally connected to a network. If too many requests are made by different display client at different stations, then the quantity of data being transferred could overload the network, crashing the system. Additionally, if any of the processes and status being monitored are time critical, the slowness of the system can be a problem to the facility controllers.
Accordingly, new and improved methods and systems for processing and displaying information in a supervisory control system are needed.